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The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:

DC BARS ARE WORLD CUP READY
The D.C. Council has given bars the option of opening as early as 7 a.m. during the month-long World Cup, but it has barred those locations from selling alcohol any earlier than their licenses currently allow. No District bar is allowed to sell beer or liquor before 8 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and before 10 a.m. on Sunday. That would not change with the emergency legislation adopted Tuesday. But bars will be allowed to open early, so that patrons can at least watch the games, which will start as early as 7:30 a.m. eastern daylight time. The World Cup is being hosted this year by South Africa, which is six hours ahead. “Sometimes residents don’t have access to the premium cable channels which broadcast these games,” said Councilman Jim Graham, D-Ward 1, who introduced the bill. To open early, licensees must register with the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration and pay a $300 fee. (WASHINGTON BUSINESS JOURNAL)

POLICE HUNT FOR TROOPER'S KILLERIt was early Friday morning when off-duty Maryland State Trooper Wesley Brown left the Applebee's restaurant in Forestville, where he worked as a part-time security guard. Half an hour earlier, he had thrown out a disorderly patron who had refused to pay his bill.
Now, things seemed calmer as Brown -- wearing a bulletproof vest and a jacket marked "police" and carrying his police-issued handgun -- stepped toward the brown Maryland State Police cruiser parked just beyond the front door. He was talking on his mobile phone. Moments later, Brown, 24, was dead, gunned down shortly before 12:40 a.m. by an unknown assailant in the dark. The gunman ran away, while Brown, covered in blood, stumbled into the restaurant and collapsed as patrons frantically dialed 911.
This was the scene police described Friday as they combed the restaurant, its parking lot and surveillance video for evidence in a case that one officer described as the "cold-blooded killing" of a young officer whose life seemed full of promise. (WASHINGTON POST)

SPIRIT AIRLINES STRIKE
Spirit Airlines pilots went on strike Saturday in a dispute over pay, and the discount carrier immediately canceled all of its flights for the day. The walkout and cancellations were expected to affect thousands of travelers. Spirit flies from several airports in the eastern U.S., through Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to points in the Caribbean and Latin America. Talks were extended past a midnight deadline, but pilots walked out after the last extension expired at 5 a.m. EDT. The extensions were "in order to review final proposals put forth by both parties to keep the airline running. In the end, both sides could not reach an agreement," said Sean Creed, a Spirit captain and the head of the airline's branch of the Air Line Pilots Association, in a statement on the union's website.
He said pilots "will not return to the cockpit until a fair and equitable contract is negotiated." (WASHINGTON EXAMINER)

DC DEMOCRATS STATE CONVENTIONDemocrats in the District of Columbia are gathering for their state convention. The D.C. Democratic State Committee meets at Howard University law school Saturday for workshops, caucus meetings and a candidates forum. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and party chair Anita Bonds are scheduled to speak. The committee also will conduct a straw poll of all offices in the city's September primary. Officials say it could be the best barometer to measure voters' preferences and could indicate who will be victorious this fall. (WTOP)

US LAWMAKERS & THE BIG SOCCER MATCH
Soccer doesn’t have the popularity in the U.S. that it enjoys in the rest of the world, but lawmakers still appear to have World Cup fever. Republicans and Democrats alike say they plan to watch the U.S. take on England Saturday on the second-day of the month-long event. The U.S. will be huge underdogs to the English, one of the favorites to win the most popular sporting event in the world, when they take the field on Saturday in front of an audience that will include Vice President Joe Biden. Biden watched Friday's opening game, a 1-1 tie between host South Africa and Mexico, from a box in the Soweto stadium shared with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) is traveling back to North Dakota on Saturday, but hopes to catch as much of the game as possible. (THE HILL)